India, Poland goalless at half time

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Sydney: India and Poland were locked goalless at half time in a crucial group 'B' match of the Olympic hockey tournament at the State Hockey Centre.

India face a must win situation and found the going tough against Poland, who will not be affected either way. Playing under a constant drizzle, the Indians could not set up the kind of pace that they had shown in their first two matches against Argentina and Australia.

Having lost to Korea in their third match, the Indians will have to win this last encounter to ensure a semi-final berth along with Australia from this group.

The match was more or less evenly poised with both the teams sharing an equal number of chances, but failing to convert them. While all of India's opportunities came from field efforts, Poland also earned three penalty corners to no avail.

The Indians found the conditions a little heavy and could not muster many defence breaking moves. Even on a couple of occasions that they broke the deep defence, they were not on target.

The Indians, in fact, came a cropper against the tight and clean defence of Poland. The Indians failed to earn even a single penalty corner despite entering the 'D' a few times.